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In German and Danish, “Ich will” or “vil” means “wants to” not the English “will” which is a false cognate
by ljlolel 2y ago
In German and Danish, “Ich will” or “vil” means “wants to” not the English “will” which is a false cognate
- eesmith 2y agoThey are cognates as they directly descend from the same parent word in Proto-Germanic. See https://www.etymonline.com/word/will https://www.etymonline.com/word/will . They have different meanings, but that doesn't make them false cognates. The example at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognate is: "Cognates need not have the same meaning, as they may have undergone semantic change as the languages developed independently. For example English starve and Dutch sterven 'to die' or German sterben 'to die' all descend from the same Proto-Germanic verb, *sterbaną 'to die'."